In three weeks, agents of the Paraguayan National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD, in Spanish) seized nearly 19 tons of marijuana in various operations. On December 17, 2021, upon entering a wooded area in Bella Vista, Caaguazú department, agents found a marijuana production and storage camp. “We destroyed a drug camp, 2 hectares of cannabis crops, and more than 1.5 tons of drugs ready for distribution,” SENAD indicated in a statement.
“In total, more than 7.5 tons of drugs were removed from circulation, considering the potential crop production,” Agencia de Información Paraguaya (IP) reported. Agents also found items used to store the drugs, IP reported.
On December 12, SENAD agents found three campsites in a wooded area in the town of Santa Clara. The facilities were interconnected and served as a warehouse for drug sales in the Pedro Juan Caballero region, Amambay department. On site, agents found 9 tons of packed marijuana ready for sale.
“We made a seizure of 9,009 kilograms of pressed marijuana,” Agent Juan Servín, from SENAD’s Regional Department No. 1, said in an interview with Paraguayan TV channel Trece. Servín reported that the seizure was made possible thanks to meticulous intelligence and cooperation efforts with the Paraguayan Office of the Attorney General.
Agents also seized two vans that traffickers used to deliver the drugs to customers, the Paraguayan newspaper La Nación said.
“[At] the campsites there were several packages of alleged marijuana bricks, ready to be loaded in the trucks and transported to Pedro Juan Caballero and later to their final destination, Brazil,” Prosecutor Celso Morales told the Paraguayan TV network SNT. Morales said that there are no crops in the vicinity of the raided camps, which complicates this kind of operation, because people in the area warn criminals about the presence of security forces’ vehicles, allowing them to escape.
2.4 tons of marijuana
On November 24, SENAD agents destroyed three other drug campsites with 2.4 tons of marijuana in different stages of production. Agents carried out a ground search in a wooded area of the town of Estrella, in Pedro Juan Caballero.
“The drugs produced in this area are mainly bound for the Brazilian market, through criminal factions operating on both sides of the border,” the Paraguayan newspaper Hoy reported.
According to SENAD, the loss of profits for criminal structures as a result of this operation is close to $100,000.
